Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky
by Gamer-fox91
Summary: Shortly after joining the famed Wigglytuff's Guild, Michael and Vulpix now known as the Pokepals , recieve a C-rank job from their first client, Spoink. Will their job be a success? Please read and review.
1. A Violent Storm at Sea

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or any of its characters, but I hope you'll enjoy this story.

Chapter 1: A Violent Storm at Sea

Somewhere in the middle of the ocean...

A gigantic storm was happening, and it was unlike anything that had ever happened in the Pokemon world; the winds were blowing violently, there were huge blasts of lightning that could harm you if you were in the wrong place at the wrong time and intense booms of thunder that was loud enough to barely make you able to hear whoever was right next to you. As some lightning, thunder and winds were shaking the large ship that was trying to reach land, two figures were making sure not to get thrown overboard.

"Whoa! Wh-wh-whoa...!", a male cried as he struggled to keep a firm grip on his companion. Another flash of lightning appeared as the ship was being beaten mercilessly by the savage weather, and the roaring thunder kept in rhythm with the lightning as soon as it vanished.

"Are... Are you OK?", the male's friend cried as he tried to hang on with all the might he could muster.

Yet another flash of lightning came, and the storm was getting worst by the second. "No! Don't let go!" The second male cried as his friend's grip was slowly loosening. "Just a little longer... Come on! Hang on!" Just then, another bolt of lightning and crash of thunder came and went by in a second.

"N-n-no! I can't...hold on...!" Two more lightning bolts appeared, and the first male was thrown overboard while his friend was left to helplessly watch as he disappeared into the fierce waves. "Waaaaah!" was the last thing he said before the ship and his friend vanished in a bright light. Barely able to summon his strength, the boy looked up to see some kind of bluff with a carving of what appeared to be a Sharpedo that was made visible by the lightning.

Shortly afterward, he found himself lying face-up on a warm beach. "..." "..." "..." "Urrgh..." His vision was faint, but he could see that the storm was over. "Where... Where am I?" He tried to get to his feet, but the storm had seriously exhausted him. "...I can't... Drifting off..." And with that, he passed out.

Meanwhile, in front of Wigglytuff's Guild, not very far from the beach...

A female Vulpix was standing in awe of the grate that was half a foot from her front paws. Apparently she'd been there for some time, wondering if she should enter the structure or not.

"Hmm...", she said to herself as she took in the sight that surrounded her. The Guild was perched on the farthest edge of a cliff, but the edges of it had been kept firmly in place by four wooden stakes in the ground. Two large torches were ablaze as they stood supported by tent-styled branches of wood at least one foot away to keep the Guild from burning down.

Two totem poles were also there, the one on the right was made from top-to-bottom with wood that showed a Hoothoot with its eyes looking towards the right, the wood underneath it was made to look like a Anorith, but it was slightly discolored, and the bottom looked like a Noctowl that was also discolored. The other totem pole that was on the left was made up of an Aipom on the top, the midsection was a Duskull, and the bottom was a Zigzagoon. Near the steps that Vulpix climbed, there were three rows of two sharpened logs that were criss-crossing in a x-shaped fashion and they were tied together where their centers touched by some strings. Next to those were some kind of flags that had a yellow base and a picture of Wigglytuff's face that was in a red-orange color. There was also a zig-zag pattern that ran across the bottom of the flag from left to right.

She paced around for a bit before standing back in her original position in front of the small grate. "No. I refuse to be paralyzed by this any longer!", she cried with determination in her voice. "This is it. Today I'm going to be brave." She stepped onto the center of the grate when suddenly, a loud voice came from underneath, completely startling her.

"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!" the male voice cried from underneath. Vulpix jumped in surprise.

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" said another male that sounded quite further than the first male.

"The footprint is Vulpix's! The footprint is Vulpix's!" the first male answered.

"Waah!" Vulpix cried as she immediately backed off the gate and looked around in total shock. "That shocked me!" she exclaimed to herself. A moment later, she calmed down. "Whew..." The look on her face then went to a saddened one. "...I can't... I can't bring myself to go in."

"I vowed that I would do it today, but..." She placed a small item on the edge of the grating and backed a bit to look at it. The object was a gray stone of some kind that had jagged lines around its circumference, as if someone or something had forced it out of whatever it originally came from. There was some kind of pattern drawn on the top in white, but Vulpix wasn't sure what it stood for.

"I thought that holding on to my personal treasure would inspire me..." She picked it back up and shook her head in disbelief. " Sigh... I just can't do it. I'm such a coward... This is so discouraging..." She turned around and walked away, heading toward the beach. As soon as she left, two strange figures who were watching her appeared from the northwest totem pole and hovered above the bottom of the grate, unable to be seen by whoever startled Vulpix.

"Hey, Zubat.", the male figure on the left said. "Did you get a load of that?"

"You bet I did, Koffing.", said the Zubat on the right.

"That little wimp that was pacing around...had something good, right?", Koffing spoke up.

"That wimp had something, that's for sure. It looked like some kind of treasure.", Zubat replied.

Koffing looked at Zubat. "Do we go after it?" he asked.

Zubat looked back at Koffing. "We do." he replied. The two of them nodded and proceeded to follow Vulpix to wherever she was headed in hopes of stealing what they saw.

Meanwhile, back at the beach...

The sounds and sights of the beach were simply marvelous. Gentle waves were moving back and forth and several Krabby had come to perch on the rocks and sand overlooking the sunset while blowing bubbles of different sizes and colors which cast beautiful rainbows inside of them. Vulpix had just gotten there when she noticed all of the beauty around her.

"Wow! What a beautiful sight!"

The calm environment alone was enough to make her hazel eyes sparkle in amazement. She went to the water's edge to get a better view of the sunset. Being a Fire-type, she was quite weak against even the smallest drop of water that touched her, but her amazed state of mind made her ignore it.

"When the weather's good, the Krabby come down at sundown to blow bubbles... All those bubbles, reflecting the setting sun off the waves... It's always beautiful." As the bubbles continued to flow from the mouths of all the Krabby, a light breeze blew its way past them and headed toward the sun in the same direction of their bubbles.

"... This is where I always come whenever I'm feeling down on myself. But it makes me feel good to be here, like always. Coming here heals my spirits." Just then, Vulpix turned to her left and saw something from the corner of her eye. "Hey...what's that? What's going on over there?" She moved five feet forward, and saw someone lying on the sand, completely unconscious.

"Waah! Someone's collapsed onto the sand!" She closed the remaining three foot distance between her and the person at her paws, jumping up and down twice to send some vibrations to the figure in hopes that he'd respond. "What happened? Are you OK?", she asked with an alarmed tone in her voice.

The figure responded by twitching his body and groaning. "..." Then he twitched again, answering with a dazed "...Ugh..." Finally, he opened his eyes, stood up and looked around. Vulpix was relieved to see whoever was out cold was feeling better, now that he was wide awake.

"You're awake! Thank goodness!" Vulpix stepped back a bit so the figure could take in his surroundings.

(Where...where am I...?), the male thought to himself. When he noticed the Vulpix standing in front of him, he had a very puzzled look on his face.

"You wouldn't move at all. I was really scared for you! Do you have any idea how you ended up unconscious out here?", Vulpix asked. Now the male was even more puzzled than before.

(I... I was unconscious? What happened to me...?) Then Vulpix smiled in a friendly way.

"Anyway, I'm Vulpix. Happy to meet you! And who are you? I don't think I've seen you around here before."

"Me? I'm a human.", the male replied. His response made Vulpix jump in disbelief.

"What? You say you're a human? You look like a completely normal Riolu to me!" The male walked over to the ocean's edge and got a good look at his face and body from front to side. His face was turned from a light-brown to a blue color, with some black around his nose, stomach, back, legs and feet. The black color was also around the eyelids covering his eyes, which were red instead of brown.

He also had pointed ears and his hair (if you could call it that) was still black and stayed at the sides of his face like dreadlocks. He was short, despite the fact that he remembered being tall, he had six fingers and toes instead of ten, and he had a short, pointy tail. This new look he had made his eyes go wide in surprise.

(It's...it's true! I've turned into a Riolu!) He had a thoughtful look on his face. (...But how did this happen? I can't remember anything...) Vulpix broke the Pokemon from his thoughts.

"You're...a little odd... Are you pulling some kind of trick on me?", she asked.

"What? N-No way!" The Riolu cried in defense.

"You're telling me the truth?" The Riolu nodded his head. "OK, how about your name? What's your name?",Vulpix asked.

"My name? That's right, my name is Michael!", Riolu replied.

"So you're named Michael?" Vulpix nodded in understanding. "OK. Well, you don't seem to be a bad Pokemon, at least." A subtle feeling of guilt ran across her face.

"I'm sorry that I doubted you. More and more bad Pokemon have been turning up lately, you see! All kinds of Pokemon have become aggressive lately. It's just not safe for anyone, anywhere anymore..."

Just then, the Koffing and Zubat from earlier began creeping up on Vulpix from behind, and Michael had a troubled look on his face that said, "Look out!". Vulpix read the look on Michael's face, and before she could even turn around, Zubat struck Vulpix from behind, causing her to drop the stone she had, while crashing face-first into Michael, making him stumble back a foot from the impact. "Yowch!", Vulpix cried as she hit the sand.

"Well, I do beg your pardon.", Koffing said. Michael could tell that these two were here to cause trouble, and bared his teeth while growling in a hushed tone. Vulpix shook off the pain from the low blow she got and became very angry.

"Hey! Why did you do that?", Vulpix yelled as she turned around to face her attackers.

"Heh-heh-heh!", Zubat chuckled. "Can't figure it out? Me and Koffing wanted to mess with you! Can't face up to us, can you?"

"Wh-what?", Vulpix cried as she jumped in a startled way.

"That's yours, isn't it?", Zubat sneered as he turned to face the fallen object to his upper-left.

Vulpix jumped in surprise as she noticed her treasure lying on the sand. "No! That's...!", she exclaimed.

"Sorry, kiddo. We'll be taking that!", Zubat said. And with that, he flew over to the stone and snatched it away before Vulpix and Michael even had a chance to reach it.

"Aaaaah!" was all Vulpix could say as she and Michael watched Zubat fly back to his partner, Koffing.

"Whoa-ho-ho! Not even going to make a move to get it back? What's the matter? Too scared?", Koffing said with a laugh. "I didn't expect you to be such a big coward!" He and Zubat turned to face each other. "Come on. Let's get out of here.", Koffing said with another laugh.

"See you around, chicken. Heh-heh-heh.", Zubat teased. And with that, Zubat and Koffing flew away into the deepest parts of the Beach Cave, while Vulpix and Michael watched, seemingly helpless to do much of anything.

"...Ohhh...", Vulpix said with an ashamed tone in her voice. Michael turned to look at Vulpix and saw a look of doubt written all over her face. "Wh-what should I do? That's my personal treasure. It means the world to me."

She was suddenly on the verge of crying. "If I lose that..." Then Vulpix's face went from a saddened look to a determined one. "No! There's no time to waste! I have to get it back!" She looked at Michael. "Say, can you please help me?"

"No.", Michael replied. His response made Vulpix jump in shock.

"Aww! You won't help me? That treasure's important to me!" She was back on the verge of crying. "If I can't get it back..." She bounded twice in a pleading way. "Oh, please? Will you please help me get my treasure back from those guys?"

"Wh-what should I do?", Michael asked Vulpix.

"We don't have any time to waste! Let's get going!"

"But you can't just...", Michael started. Vulpix grimaced at his response.

"That's my precious treasure..." She shivered at the thought of losing the stone she found forever, and began to cry. "If that disappeared, then I'd... Please! Please help me!" She bounded two more times to show Michael how serious she felt about her situation.

"But I have no memory...", he pleaded. Vulpix could tell how sincere Michael was about this subject, but this wasn't the time or place to talk about that.

"I know it feels difficult for you, but hurry! It doesn't matter if you don't have any memory. You can still help me! Please!"

"But I'm sure I was a human...", Michael started. By now, Vulpix was starting to get mad.

"Grr. Human, ghost, it doesn't matter what you were. You can still help me! Please!", she burst out without warning.

"O-OK! G-got it!", Michael stuttered. That made Vulpix calm down enough to make her feel better, knowing that she'd found a friend in Michael.

"R-really? You'll really help me?" Michael nodded yes, and Vulpix bounded again, this time, in joyfulness while her eyes were sparkling. "Th-thanks! Can we go stop those two thieves right now?"

Michael nodded, and with that, the two of them ran into the cave, ready to face anything that would try to stop them from completing their task. Once they were inside, they felt there was something really off about it. The floor had a pinkish-purple color to it and it looked like there was some kind of seaweed or moss scattered across random locations on the floor.

There were also pebbles decorating it, while the marine blue walls had the same kind of moss hanging from it. Just then, a pair of East Sea Shellos approached them. "What are you two doing here?", the first Shellos asked. Both Michael and Vulpix could tell it sounded male.

"We're not here to cause trouble.", Michael spoke up. "We're only here to take back an item a Zubat and Koffing stole from my friend here."

"If you're talking about those two that flew in here earlier, you have to reach the Beach Cave Pit on the fifth floor basement." the second Shellos replied. Its voice was male, too.

"Well, at least they were kind enough to tell us our destination." Vulpix said to Michael.

"If you two will excuse us, we have to get over there.", Michael said as he and Vulpix started to look around for a way to reach the lower levels of the cave.

"I'm afraid we can't let you two out of here so easily.", the first Shellos interrupted suddenly.

"What? Why not?", Vulpix started.

"Because, this territory belongs to Water and Rock-types, and we don't take kindly to trespassers.", the second Shellos replied.

"What about that Koffing and Zubat? Those two trespassed here as well.", Michael cried.

"We know that, but they were too strong and fast for everyone else here. You two probably wouldn't stand a chance against them.", the first Shellos said.

"I guess we don't have a choice. If we want to get strong enough to beat the two that attacked me, we've got to beat everyone else in here first.", Vulpix started.

"If you two are done yapping, we'll make the first move!", said the second Shellos.

The first Shellos walked up to Vulpix and cried out "Mud-Slap!" Suddenly, a huge ball of mud shot out of his mouth like a bullet, and made direct physical contact with Vulpix's side, causing her to yelp in pain.

"Vulpix, are you alright?", Michael cried in alarm.

"It's just a water-type move, but it'll take more than a little mud to stop me!" Michael rushed to try and help her, but the other Shellos hit him with a Mud-Slap of his own. Michael was quick enough to cover his eyes, but his vision still felt a little off.

Vulpix began fighting back as she cried out "Ember!" As soon as she finished speaking, several small bursts of fire flew from her mouth, but her aim was a little off because of the Mud-Slap's effect, which lowered its opponent's accuracy anytime it made contact.

Hearing the moves being used got Michael to do some thinking. (So, you've got to say what move you're going to use, and then it happens. I've never tried anything like this before, but if that's how moves work here, I've got to take my chances!)

Spotting Shellos, Michael yelled "Bite!", and just like the name implied, he actually managed to bite Shellos. Shellos ignored the pain, raised his head toward the ceiling and shouted "Mud Sport!", causing several, smaller Mud Shots to flow from his mouth like the first Shellos, but instead of hitting Michael and Vulpix, it hit him and the other Shellos instead. That was his mistake, because it caused Michael to literally be one step ahead of him.

Even though Vulpix was still under the effect of Mud-Slap, she knew a move that was impossible for any opponent to miss getting hit by. "Faint Attack!", she yelled. Suddenly, a huge burst of purple light surrounded Vulpix like a barrier, and it struck the first Shellos, knocking him out in an instant.

"Way to go, Vulpix!", Michael cheered. He turned to face the other Shellos and thought about any other moves he knew. "Quick Attack!", he cried. In an instant, his whole body felt like it was going to burst if it didn't get moving, and the next thing he knew, he rushed at Shellos with such incredible speed, that the attack came and went in the blink of an eye.

"Great job, Michael!", Vulpix commented. And with that, the second Shellos fainted just like the first one.

"Thanks Vulpix, but this isn't the time to be celebrating. Those two said there were others, and we can't risk letting our guards down for even a second."

"You're right. Let's see if there's something in here that'll get rid of our decreased accuracy." They had just taken a few steps when Michael noticed something in one of the corners. He walked right up to it and looked down. It was a gray square that had some kind of giant green arrow pointing upward, while all four corners had a small green dot near the edge of it.

"Hey, Vulpix, what's this thing?", Michael asked pointing at the strange object he found. Vulpix walked over and studied it for a moment.

"Hmm. I think that's a Wonder Tile. They can help restore the stats of any Pokemon that steps on it to their normal levels whenever they've been boosted or lowered. But they're not always so easy to find. Sometimes there's plenty to find, and other times, not so much. Let's step on it and see what happens."

Vulpix tried it out first, and once she stepped on the Wonder Tile, the mud instantly vanished, and her vision went back to normal. "Wow, it really works! Give it a try, Michael!" Vulpix stepped off of it to let Michael have his turn, and his accuracy went to normal, too.

"That's incredible. We should keep a sharp eye out for these things anytime something like this happens again."

"Now then, let's keep looking around this floor." The two of them felt like they were in some kind of maze; the walls and floors had corners, some paths were long, while others were short, and some parts were enormous, while others still looked small. They just entered another small room when Michael spotted another strange object lying on the floor; it was a small brown-colored bag that had a knot tied at the top and there was obviously something inside of it, since there were small curving lines protruding from the outside. Michael picked it up and shook it around a few times.

A jingling sound came from it as if it was filled to the brim with coins. Suddenly overcome with curiosity, he unlaced the string with his right hand and peeked inside. It WAS filled with coins, but these were unlike any he'd seen before; they were round and solid gold in color, but the center of the coins had a capital "P" carved in a darker gold.

"Say, Vulpix, I just found a bag of money here, but I'm not sure what kind it really is."

"Really? Let me see." Michael knelt down a bit so Vulpix could get a good look at the coin he held in his right hand. After a brief moment, she spoke up.

"This is called Poke. It's the only kind of currency you can find on this planet, and it's just like those Wonder Tiles; sometimes you find a lot, and other times you find a little or none at all. How much is inside that bag?" Michael emptied out the entire bag of its contents of began counting them. It didn't even take him fifteen seconds to find out that there was about 19 Poke inside it, 20 if you also counted the one he showed Vulpix.

"OK, so we have 20 Poke with us. I'm sure we can find some more around here if we look around long enough.", Michael said as he put the last Poke inside the bag and tied it back up. Michael wasn't really trying to sound greedy, but if there were large amounts of Poke lying around in places like this, saving it might pay off someday. After Michael and Vulpix wandered around some more, they were approached by a Corsola.

Looking at the bag of Poke Michael had, he spoke up, "What do you have in that bag?"

"It's about 20 Poke, why?", Michael answered.

"Hmm... That's chump change there, but no matter. Hand it over, now!"

"Excuse me?", Vulpix exclaimed. "We found this money fair and square. It belongs to us!"

"You two don't get it, do you?", Corsola responded by shaking his body. "This is Rock and Water-type territory; whatever is found in here, stays in here, and nobody takes anything from here without a fight!"

"If that's the case, then we'll prove it's ours.", Michael spoke up.

"Give it your best shot! Tackle!", Corsola yelled as he backed up and took a running start towards Michael. He took the full force of the blow, but quickly shook off the pain as if nothing even made contact.

"That's the best you got? Now it's my turn. Bite!", Michael ran up to Corsola and bit down with such force, that it was a critical hit, and Corsola fainted, just like the two Shellos had before.

"Ouch, You're not that bad, but you're still outnumbered. The rest of the Pokemon here will tire you both out in a matter of minutes. By then, you'll wish you never came here.", Corsola groaned.

"That doesn't scare us. Besides, we could use a good workout if we're going to face those two thieves from earlier.", Michael said with a confident grin.

And sure enough, just as Michael and Vulpix were walking down a straight path, they were confronted by many other Rock/Water-types, just like Shellos and Corsola said there were. The first one to encounter them was a Shellder, and once he got close enough, he hit Michael with a Tackle attack. (That water Pokemon looks weak, but the defense coming from his shell looks pretty tough. If I tried using my Bite attack, I'd probably end up hurting myself more than Shellder. I'll have to use my Quick Attack instead.)

"If you're done talking to yourself, I'll make the same move again! Tackle!", Shellder cried as he tried to hit Michael. Michael wasn't going to risk getting hit with the same move twice in a row, so he dodged as soon as it was about to make contact.

"Try taking this! Quick Attack!", Michael yelled. Even though Shellder was tough, Michael's attack was strong enough to knock Shellder out. A Kabuto that approached Vulpix from behind saw the whole thing and became mad at Michael.

"No one knocks out one of our own and gets away with it THAT easily! You're going to get it now! Harden!", Kabuto screamed. Once he finished speaking, a green aura appeared from his legs and enveloped his entire body in a upward current for a few seconds before vanishing.

"I don't think so! Ember!", Vulpix opened her mouth and let the intense flames shoot all over Kabuto's back, but it dealt minimal damage to him since Fire-types were weak against Water-types, and that Harden move boosted his defense to be like Shellder's.

"You call THAT a move? THIS is what REAL damage feels like. Scratch!", Kabuto stood up on two hind legs and scratched Vulpix's face with his upper claws. Vulpix winced at the pain, but she and Michael weren't quitters.

"Faint Attack!", Vulpix yelled again, and the purple energy that hit Kabuto was much too strong for him. Even WITH his boosted defense, Vulpix's attack was very effective.

"There's so many of them, I don't know how we're going to find the exit, or how much longer we can keep this up.", Michael told Vulpix as he used his Bite attack on another Corsola. Suddenly, Michael noticed that the other Pokemon were fainting faster and the attacks he and Vulpix were using felt somewhat stronger.

"Hey, Vulpix. Are you noticing the same thing I am?"

"Yeah. Our attacks are getting more powerful with each Pokemon that we defeat. We both must've leveled up a little without even realizing it."

"You two may be getting tougher, but that doesn't mean you'll be getting out of here. Mud Sport!", another Shellos cried. Using that move may have reduced all of the damage from Vulpix's Ember and Faint Attack moves by half, but she was still able to knock them out with one move at a time. While Michael fought back by using Counter.

That move replaced Endure, so whenever he got hit by any kind of physical attack, the very same amount of damage would bounce back to whoever harmed him. Eventually, Michael and Vulpix fought their way into another large room that had a Wonder Tile and another bag of Poke in the middle of the floor.

"So, Michael, how much Poke is inside this bag?", Vulpix said as she walked on the Wonder Tile to restore her accuracy that was reduced from a stray Mud-Slap that was aimed at Michael, but Vulpix choose to take the hit for her partner.

"Hmm... this bag looks twice as big as the one that I have, let's see if it has 40 Poke inside." Michael emptied the bag and started counting, in about 30 seconds, he made 10 rows of 4 Poke. When he was done, he put them all back inside the bag.

"Say Vulpix, I was thinking of something."

"What is it, Michael?", she asked.

"Well, it's like this, you know all of those Pokemon we've been fighting ever since we came here, right?"

"Right."

"Well, I've noticed that the Pokemon that I attack faint in two hits, while the ones that YOU attack go down in just one. Why do you think that happens?"

Vulpix thought about that for a bit before answering. "Maybe it's because those Pokemon are males like you, while I'm the only female in here."

"So if one Pokemon attacks another Pokemon that's of the same gender, the damage dealt is minimal, but if a Pokemon gets attacked by a Pokemon that's of the opposite gender, there's a slight increase in attack strength.", Michael spoke up.

"That's a strong possibility. We'll just have to test it on the next two Pokemon that challenge us." And sure enough, they'd just started to go down another straight path when Michael was approached by a Kabuto, and Vulpix was met by a Shellos.

"That's quite a huge bag of Poke you've got there. Mind giving it to the needy Pokemon in here?", Kabuto asked.

"You're not needy, just the opposite. We don't take kindly to liars.", Michael spoke up while tightening his grip on the bag.

"Well then, if that's how you want to be, take this! Mud-Slap!", Shellos yelled as he opened his mouth and fired at Michael. He dodged it and used Quick Attack on Kabuto.

"Now it's my turn. Faint Attack!", Vulpix cried. The purple energy surrounded her again, and it knocked out Shellos in one shot, just like Michael noticed.

"You can't beat us that easily. Harden!", Kabuto spoke up. The green aura surrounded him like Vulpix's Faint Attack, but Michael was able to beat him by using Bite.

"See? It DID take me two moves to beat an opponent, while you only needed one.", Michael said as soon as Kabuto fainted.

"So that theory WAS right after all! Smart thinking, Michael."

"Thanks, Vulpix. Let's keep looking around for an exit." The two of them pressed on, fighting any other Pokemon that dared to take their Poke. While they backtracked their way after walking into a dead end, another Shellos tried to hit Michael with a Mud-Slap, so that he could run off with all of the Poke they collected. Vulpix couldn't stand it anymore, and yelled with such amazing force, it came out like a roar that knocked him into the wall all the way on the other side of the room they were just in.

"Hey! That was Roar, wasn't it?", Michael asked in astonishment.

"Yeah. I just went up another level. We'll do better now.", Vulpix answered. As Michael walked over to the Wonder Tile to restore his accuracy, a strange breeze of wind blew past them from out of nowhere.

"Hey Michael, did you just see what I just did?"

"Yeah. I saw, felt and heard that breeze as well."

"What do you think it means?"

"I'm not really sure, but we'd better find the exit, and fast, or else something worse may happen." Suddenly, the Shellos that Vulpix attacked earlier got back on his feet and chuckled.

"If you really must know, it means that you two are in danger.", Shellos explained.

"What do you mean by 'in danger?'", Michael asked in a confused way.

"It's like this. Anytime a Pokemon comes into a place like this on a full stomach, they have a limited time to make their way to the exit. That light breeze you felt just now may have seemed harmless, but that was because your stomachs are only a quarter-full. You both can feel it, can you?"

At that moment, both Michael and Vulpix's stomachs let out a short growl. They both looked down at their stomachs, and then at each other.

"That's what I thought. You see, it usually takes about 10 minutes for a Pokemon's belly to go from full to empty. When your bellies drop down to 15%, the wind will come again, but slightly stronger than the first time. When your bellies are at 5%, the wind will feel like a Gust attack, and finally, when they're empty, the wind will come at you like a Whirlwind that's so strong, not even a legendary Pokemon can resist it, and you'll be forced out of here.", Shellos finished.

"A strange force that can even defeat a legendary Pokemon... How can something like that even exist?", Michael spoke up.

"I'm not really sure, Michael. But if we have a time limit, we've got to pick up the pace.", Vulpix answered.

"Now that you're aware of what might be in store for you, would you mind giving me all that Poke you have there?", Shellos spoke up while sneering.

"I don't think so. We appreciate the advice, but we don't just give up anything to thieves.", Michael responded.

"Then I'll just have to take it from you. Mud Sport!", Shellos yelled. Once again, Michael was literally one step ahead of his opponent, and he knocked him out with Quick Attack.

"These Pokemon just won't listen, will they?"

"I don't think they will, Michael. We need to keep moving if we don't want to get beaten by that Whirlwind." They both walked around for a little bit, and Michael's stomach growled as a sign that he was getting hungry. Vulpix's stomach growled too, but they kept on walking. They turned another corner but then, the second breeze brushed past them, just like the first one, and it was stronger, just like Shellos said.

"Uh-oh. Both of our stomachs are at 15%. If this continues, we're in big trouble.", Michael said once his and Vulpix's stomachs growled again.

"Maybe we overlooked a path somewhere. We just need to find it, and soon, we'll be ok." They were slowly making their way to the entrance when they were being stalked by even more Pokemon that were after the 60 Poke Michael carried on his right shoulder. Michael fought back against the Kabuto and Shellder by using Quick Attack and Counter, while Vulpix fought against the Shellos and Corsola by attacking with Faint Attack and Ember.

Michael and Vulpix were getting dizzy from hunger when their bellies were at 9%, but they quickly shook off the feeling. "I'm almost out of Power Points for Quick Attack and Bite. I don't think we can keep on fighting these Pokemon for much longer.", Michael told Vulpix as he dodged a Scratch attack.

"Don't worry, Michael. I can back us up no matter what kinds of odds are against us.", Vulpix said as she knocked out another Corsola with Ember.

"Give us that Poke! You know if it was found in here, it stays in here, no matter what!", another Shellos said as he approached Michael from behind a Shellder.

"We're not giving up anything as long as me and Vulpix are together, and this Poke is ours.", Michael replied as he used the last Power Point for Quick Attack on Shellder. The fight for Michael and Vulpix's Poke ended as soon as Michael used the last Power Point for Bite by using it on Shellos. Just then, their stomachs let out yet another growl and the breeze came at them like a Gust attack, as a final warning.

"I think that's the last of them, Vulpix. I feel like we've beaten 30 of them, already.", Michael said with exhaustion in his voice.

"I don't hear anymore of them either, Michael. We must have proved we're too tough for them. Let's get going. I think the exit's this way!", Vulpix said while nudging Michael to the path that was on the far right side of the room they were first in. After running down the straight path, Michael quickly noticed the stairs in the lower-left side of the room. There wasn't anything else that Michael and Vulpix needed, so they rushed towards the stairs.

But just as they were about to go down them, their stomachs let out one last growl, and they knew what THAT meant... they spent too much time on this single floor, and their bellies were empty from everything that happened. With a sudden roar, the winds picked up speed and violently began blowing Michael and Vulpix outside.

"Vulpix, hang on!", Michael yelled as he tried to grab his partner and struggled to keep the bag full of Poke from blowing out of his mouth. He couldn't keep Vulpix from harm for very long, because the wind got fiercer and Michael's grip on Vulpix got weaker.

"It's no use, Michael! We can't keep fighting this!", Vulpix cried. Even though her eyes were half-shut, she could see the determination on Michael's face. Eventually, Michael's grip got weaker and weaker, until the weather made him let go of Vulpix completely.

"Aaahhh! Someone help us!", Vulpix yelled before she and Michael became unconscious.

Outside the Beach Cave, several minutes later...

"...Wh-what?", Vulpix asked as she tried to regain consciousness. She and Michael woke up at the same time and looked around with confused looks on their faces. Michael noticed the bag of Poke lying beside him and looked though it. Half of the Poke was gone, but there was no sign of anyone opening it.

"Ouch! We didn't do too well... I guess if either of us faints, the other one can't carry on! ...Could this be what the other Pokemon call a Mystery Dungeon?", Vulpix asked Michael, but all he could give was a confused look. Then Vulpix's eyes widened as she remembered what happened earlier.

"Oh! There's no time to waste! We need to catch Koffing and his buddy and get my treasure back! Let's go, Michael!", Vulpix cried with newly found determination in her voice. Both Michael and Vulpix knew what to do now that they were aware of the dangers that were inside of the Beach Cave. But once they were inside, they immediately noticed something was different.

"What's going on? Why's this dungeon different from the one we were in before?", Michael asked.

"Maybe it's because Mystery Dungeons are capable of changing themselves every time someone enters or reaches a different floor. There's no telling how this floor might be changed, so let's be careful, Michael.", Vulpix responded. Michael led the way since Vulpix seemed too scared to lead the way herself, and after he finished counting the 20 Poke he found inside another bag, they were ambushed by another Shellos and Corsola.

"We can't afford to waste too much time in here again. Let's beat the Pokemon in here and make our way to the next floor.", Michael said after using Bite on Corsola.

"I agree, Michael! I don't want that strange wind to beat us, so let's hurry!", Vulpix replied after attacking Shellos with Ember. Michael and Vulpix walked down the hall that was in the south end of the room and as they approached the left corner, Michael spotted two shadows on the other side, and motioned Vulpix to stop. Stepping closer and putting his ear to the wall, he could hear the two Pokemon talking.

"It's only a matter of time before those two unsuspecting Pokemon come here, and when they do, I'll attack the one with the Poke, while you deal with that Vulpix. Got it, Shellder?", the first Pokemon said.

"I don't know, Kabuto. Those two are pretty strong by now, and if we don't stand a chance, how will the others do better?", Shellder replied.

"Don't you start sounding like a crybaby! We'll get that Poke, one way or another.", Kabuto scolded.

"You just heard all of that, right Vulpix?", Michael whispered to Vulpix.

"Don't worry. You just leave this to me, Michael." Vulpix carefully made her way to the corner, taking care to make sure she was inconspicuous to Kabuto and Shellder. And once she was close enough, she fired Ember, and it managed to hit Kabuto from her position.

"How'd they know we were here?", Kabuto asked in a stunned tone.

"We saw the shadows and overheard what you were planing. It wasn't hard.", Michael answered.

"No matter. Your money's mine!", Kabuto yelled as he tried to use Scratch on Michael's eyes. He missed and Michael knocked out Shellder with Quick Attack, while Vulpix used Ember again on Kabuto.

"Let's keep running. There's no telling how much time we have left.", Michael said to Vulpix as he turned the corner and started running down the straight path. Soon, they reached another corner that turned right and led them through another straight hallway, and when they were at the other side of it, they entered a large room with another bag of Poke and a flight of stairs in the middle of the floor.

"We don't have any time to waste here. We can count this Poke as soon as we're on the next floor.", Michael said as he put the bag on his other shoulder. Then they went down the stairs and into the second floor. Staying true to his word, Michael put the bag from his left shoulder to the ground and started counting the Poke. There was 30 of it, and he added it to the rest they found earlier making a total of 80 Poke.

Just then, Michael and Vulpix spotted a Kabuto and a Corsola appear from the shadows that were ahead of them on the north side of the room.

"My, that's quite a huge sum of Poke you've got there. Do you two need any help with that?", Corsola asked. This time, Michael and Vulpix noticed the voice was female, instead of male.

"Um, not really, but thanks for the offer.", Michael answered in kind.

"Fine, then we'll take it by force!", Kabuto shouted. She sounded female, too.

"What can we do, Vulpix? All of the Pokemon on this floor are female, and I can't bring myself to harm any of them!", Michael whined.

"What about those males on the first floor? They attacked me and didn't even care that I was female!", Vulpix cried.

"Good point, but still..."

"We can finish this later. Right now we have to beat those two and keep moving.", Vulpix replied.

"Fine, but I'm not going to like this!", and with that, Michael went after Corsola with Quick Attack, and Vulpix used Faint attack on Kabuto.

(So now I'm the one who needs two moves to beat my opponents, while Michael only needs to use one. It doesn't seem fair, but I guess that's how the floors of a Mystery Dungeon must work.), Vulpix thought to herself. After Kabuto raised her defense with Harden, Vulpix knocked her out by using Ember. When the fight was over, both Michael and Vulpix noticed they went up a level.

Michael and Vulpix turned to the right corner and went through a short path that led to a small room with some kind of fruit lying on the floor. Michael picked it up and looked at it for a few seconds to study it; it was about the size of an orange, but it was dark blue in color.

"Hey, Vulpix, have you seen a fruit like this before?", Michael asked while showing it to her.

"That fruit's called an Oran Berry. It's used to restore 100 of any Pokemon's Health Points, or HP for short. I even heard that if you eat it, even if you don't need to restore health, it'll fill up 5% of your belly."

"That sounds great. I don't really need to recover, but do you want to try it, Vulpix?"

"Sure. It looks tasty to me." Michael put the Berry between his hands and managed to divide it into two equal halves. He and Vulpix ate them both at the same time, and loved the taste.

"Wow! That's delicious! We should definitely bring more of these anytime we're in a Mystery Dungeon, Vulpix.", Michael said after licking his lips.

"Yeah, we really should. I wonder if there's any more in here.", Vulpix agreed after licking her own lips. They continued looking for the stairs while fighting more pairs of female Pokemon that tried to take the money Michael carried, they also hoped to find another Oran Berry, but there weren't any more to find. Soon they found the stairs and went down them after another fight with a pair of Shellos.

Upon reaching the next floor, Michael found a small seed and examined it. It was shaped like a pumpkin seed, but slightly bigger and wider, with a white color and a small pink "Z" on both sides of it.

"Um, Vulpix, what kind of seed is this, anyway?" Michael showed it to Vulpix and waited for her answer.

"This is Sleep Seed, and just like the name says, it will make you fall asleep for a random amount of time, but if it's thrown at an enemy, it makes them fall asleep instead."

"Let's try it out on the next Pokemon we see and watch what happens." Soon enough, Michael and Vulpix were met by a Kabuto that was also after the Poke he saw on Michael's shoulder. Michael threw the Sleep Seed, and it let out a small cloud of pink smoke that covered Kabuto completely.

Michael could tell it worked, because he could hear Kabuto's snores before the smoke wasn't even halfway gone, and when he used Quick Attack, Kabuto didn't even flinch and Michael knocked him out by using Bite.

"I think I know how this Dungeon works now, Vulpix.", Michael started.

"Really, Michael? How?"

"OK, you noticed how the Pokemon we face on an odd-numbered floor are male, and the ones we meet on an even-numbered floor are female, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"So what if everything found on any kind of floor of a Mystery Dungeon was randomly found there?"

"I think so, too. But I'm not sure why yet."

"I'm sure we can find the answer soon, but now we must keep looking for more things to find." After walking down a short path that ended with a left turn, Michael saw two seeds that looked exactly like a Sleep Seed, but they had a small flame that was colored from red to yellow on both sides.

"So what kind of Seeds are these, Vulpix?", Michael asked as Vulpix studied them.

"These are called Blast Seeds. They can be eaten or thrown to deal damage to any Pokemon that's friend or foe alike. If it's thrown at an enemy, it deals 25 damage and fills 5% of their belly , but if it's eaten, it deals 35 damage and fills the belly of whoever used it by 5%. I also heard that the first time anyone eats it, it burns their mouth a little, but then you get used to the taste pretty quickly."

"So just about every kind of Berry or Seed on this planet can fill anyone's belly by 5%?", Michael asked.

"That's right."

"Hmm... Let's see if it does happen." Michael popped the Seed into his mouth and as soon as he took his first bite, his mouth felt like it was on fire. The next thing he knew after a huge blast of fire flew from his mouth like Vulpix's Ember, he was running around yelling, "Help me! My mouth's on fire! My mouth's on fire!". After ten seconds the burning feeling went away on its own.

"Wow. You weren't kidding, Vulpix. That Seed really DOES burn."

"I got to admit, you looked really funny, but now I want to give it a try." Michael didn't really feel like letting his partner hurt herself like that, but Vulpix seemed confident enough to go through with it. She ate the seed and went through the same thing Michael did, but the feeling was gone in five seconds instead of ten.

"How come the burning stayed for ten seconds when I tried it, and yours only lasted five?"

"Maybe it's because Blast Seeds are like a Fire-type move, and the side effects are halved when used by a Fire-type Pokemon."

"Really? That's interesting. Let's see if there's any more around here." They only managed to find two more inside a small room after fighting a Shellder and Shellos that were sleeping soundly by the stairs. Michael and Vulpix tried the Blast Seeds again, and they got used to side effect, just like Vulpix said they would.

They went down the stairs and began fighting even more female Pokemon that kept trying to steal the Poke Michael had by teaming up on him or trying to blindside him by using Mud-Slap when Shellos was with them, but they failed time and time again. Michael had just found the only Blast Seed in the room he and Vulpix just entered, when they both felt and heard something familiar. It was that light breeze they felt the first time they entered the Beach Cave, but their bellies were at 15%, not 25%.

"Are you thinking that anytime we fill our bellies, we still have a risk of getting beaten by that unknown force from before, Vulpix?"

"Unfortunately, yes I am. And we better get moving if we don't want to faint again." They kept running this way and that, beating all the female Pokemon that kept challenging them. By the time their stomachs were empty and the third warning came, it seemed that there was no hope for Michael and Vulpix, when Michael saw the final set of stairs and ran down them with Vulpix quickly following him from behind.

"Phew. Three more seconds and we would have starved. Good thing those stairs were there when we needed them.", Michael said with relief in his voice. Just about then, Vulpix spotted two familiar figures flying about two feet ahead of her and Michael. She quickly realized that they were in the Beach Cave Pit, and those two figures were none other than Zubat and Koffing.

Vulpix was nervous about confronting those two thieves, but literally having Michael by her side gave her the courage she needed. "Um... Hey!", Vulpix cried as she moved an inch towards the unsuspecting thieves. That outburst certainly got their attention as they turned around but quickly got over their shock when they saw who were behind them.

"Well, well... If it isn't our old 'friend', the big chicken.", Koffing insulted with an amused laugh. That really hurt Vulpix's feelings and she backed up to her parallel position next to Michael.

"Urk!" was her only reply. Remembering why she came this far helped her move a step closer to Koffing.

"Give me... Give me back what you stole from me!", Vulpix yelled while jumping twice.

"That's my personal treasure! It means everything to me!", she yelled.

"Treasure, you say? So that thing really is valuable, huh?", Zubat sneered.

"It could be worth more than we'd hoped for, I say. We ought to try selling it. And who knows? It might get a good price. Whoa-ho-ho! All the more reason not to give it back!", Koffing finished with another rude laugh.

That was pushing Vulpix too far. "You can't!", she cried as she stumbled back to being next to Michael in total shock.

"If you want it back that badly... Come and get it! Heh-heh-heh!", Zubat sneered again. Finally, it was Michael who couldn't take anymore.

"You two are going to regret ever messing with my partner! Get ready for poetic justice! Counter!", Michael yelled. He spun around clockwise and a blue aura surrounded him like a shield. Vulpix knew what Michael was planning and moved right alongside him to offer any help he might need.

Both Zubat and Koffing closed the one foot distance between themselves and Michael, and Michael smiled, knowing they'd flown right into his trap. "This is for Vulpix! Quick Attack!", Michael cried. And with that, his move was a critical hit, and Zubat was out cold in an instant.

"How dare you beat my partner? You're going to get it now!", Koffing yelled.

"I don't think so! Faint Attack!", Vulpix yelled back, but that move wasn't enough to stop him.

"Now it's my turn. Let's see how you handle this! Tackle!" He charged face-first into Michael, but that turned out to be his big mistake, since Michael's Counter was still in effect, and the force slammed back in his own face, knocking himself out like an idiot.

After the fight... "Owowow...", Koffing groaned in pain.

"Ugh... We got roughed up...", Zubat groaned as well.

A few minutes later... "B-blast it! How'd we get beaten by wimps like them?", Koffing grumbled.

"Bah! Here you go. Take it, then!", Zubat fussed as he threw Vulpix's treasure to the sand, making it land in a diagonal position by Michael's left and Vulpix's right.

"Whoa-ho! Don't start thinking you're so awesome. Your victory over us was just a fluke!", Koffing said while still annoyed.

"Yeah, you just remember that!", Zubat finished. And with that, Zubat and Koffing ran away, not wanting to risk losing again. Vulpix walked back to her treasure and looked at it in relief.

"Oh! It's my Relic Fragment!", Vulpix said as she picked it up with sparkles in her eyes.

"Thank goodness... I was actually able to get it back.", Vulpix was so grateful to Michael, that she started crying tears of joy while saying, "This happened only because you helped me, Michael." Then her tears stopped and she was happy again. "Thank you, Michael!", Vulpix cried with happiness that was so great, she walked right up to him and kissed him on the right cheek of his face.

That caused Michael to blush a deep red like any male naturally would after receiving something like that, but he responded in kind by stroking the curls on the top of Vulpix's head.

Outside the Beach Cave... The sun was still setting, as if Michael and Vulpix weren't even gone, and the waves were still moving gently back and forth.

"Thank you very much!", Vulpix said as she bounded twice in joy.

(... I only helped because I happened to be there... Was that the right thing to do?), Michael thought to himself. Seeing how glad Vulpix was made him feel better about his selfless deed. (I guess so. Vulpix is clearly grateful.), Michael thought with a friendly smile on his face. (It's nice to be appreciated.) Then Vulpix moved an inch toward Michael and placed what she called her Relic Fragment in front of him.

"Here's what they stole. This is a Relic Fragment. ...Well, at least, that's what I started calling it... But this Relic Fragment... It's my precious treasure. You see, I've always loved legends and lore... I always get excited when I hear tales from the past!", Vulpix bounded as she said this, and Michael could tell how honest Vulpix was.

"Don't you feel the same way? Hidden troves full of treasure and strange relics...", Vulpix said as she turned to look at the sunset with sparkles in her eyes. "Uncharted territories veiled in darkness... and new lands just waiting to be discovered! Such places must be full of gold and treasure! And history! Wouldn't it be dramatic to make historic discoveries?", Vulpix said as she excitedly bounded again.

Vulpix turned back to look at Michael. "That's what I always dream of. It's all so exciting to me. And it just so happened one day...that I found this Relic Fragment. Sure, it looks like junk, but look closely."

They both moved an inch forward to see what was on it. "Look there. Do you see that strange pattern inscribed on it?" Michael knelt down a bit to get a better view of the pattern which was a circle surrounded by what looked like swirling compass arrows, while a single item of what looked like wings appeared on the diagonal corners of the circle.

(It's true. There is a strange inscription. I've never seen a pattern like this before.), Michael thought to himself.

"There must be some meaning to this pattern. This Relic Fragment must be the key to legendary places! To areas where precious treasure lies! At least that's the feeling I get. That's why I want to join an exploration team. This fragment must fit into something...somewhere! I want to discover where that is.", Vulpix said as she bounded again.

"I want to solve the mystery of my Relic Fragment!", Vulpix cried with another excited jump. "So earlier, I tried joining an exploration team as an apprentice... But...I was too cowardly...", Vulpix said as she looked down at her own paws in shame. Then she looked back at Michael.

"What about you, Michael? What are you going to do now? You lost your memory. And you somehow turned into a Pokemon... Do you have anywhere to stay?"

(...), Michael thought to himself again. The look on his face told Vulpix everything.

"If not, can I ask you a big favor? Would you form an exploration team with me? I think we could make a good exploration team together, Michael. So will you do that with me? Please?", Vulpix asked with a pleading stare in her eyes as she jumped again. Her question certainly took Michael by surprise, considering that they'd just met for the first time earlier.

(Whoa! What should I do? I'm getting recruited out of the blue! I don't even know what an exploration team is... What should I do? Should I join Vulpix and form an exploration team with her?), Michael wondered.

After a brief moment he replied, "Thanks, but no." That made Vulpix jump in shock again.

"What? Oh, please! But I'm braver when I'm following you, Michael... And you were fantastic when we faced Koffing and his sidekick. When I saw that, I realized that you're no ordinary Pokemon, Michael! I think that you could be a first-class leader, Michael. So, please? Will you please form an exploration team with me?", Vulpix asked again.

"Are you...?" was Michael's only answer. And it left a confused expression on Vulpix's face.

"Huh? Am I what? What do you mean, 'Are you...?'"

"Are you trying to talk me into it?", Michael answered. Once again, Vulpix jumped in shock.

"What? Talk you into it? The thought never crossed my mind!" Then she had a depressed look on her face again.

"Well, I'm a complete coward... Honestly... I mean, yes, I thought I can depend on you, Michael... But during that fight with Koffing earlier... Having you there with me, I felt really brave. I think I could do anything as long as you're helping me, Michael. So come on, I'm begging you. Let's form an exploration team, you and me.", Vulpix finished. Hearing the honesty in Vulpix's words finally convinced Michael to make his choice.

(It's true, I don't know where to go... I don't have any clue what I should do next. I guess it wouldn't hurt to team up with Vulpix. Maybe I'll eventually discover who or what I am by hanging out with her. OK! It's settled!), Michael finished his thoughts by smiling and saying, "I'll join you!". His reply made Vulpix's eyes sparkle with happiness again.

"Oh? Really? You'll really form an exploration team with me?" She jumped two more times in joy. "Yay! Thank you! We're going to be a great combination! Let's make this work!", Vulpix said while staring at the sunset.

"First, we need to go to Wigglytuff's place and sign up as apprentices. That's where we can get the training to become a proper exploration team.", Vulpix said as she looked at Michael again.

"I think the training will be very tough...", Vulpix said as she jumped in worry, but then she smiled confidently.

"So let's give it our best, Michael!" Then Michael looked up and raised his right hand in the air. Vulpix saw this as a team pose, did the same thing with her right paw and eyes closed with a cheerful smile.

And so, Vulpix and Michael formed an exploration team. This turned out to be their first steps into many fantastic realms of adventure that quietly waited for their arrival.

Well, that's the end of my first chapter. Please review and feel free to let me know if I should continue, ok? Thanks for reading!


	2. Pokepals, The Guild's New Recruits

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky

Chapter 2: Pokepals, The Guild's New Recruits

Michael and Vulpix were already standing in front of the world-renowned Wigglytuff's Guild, just below the grate that hid a strange male that scared Vulpix once before. Michael took in the view and was quite impressed. There were two different totem poles that were each made up of three different Pokemon, two torches, two flags with Wigglytuff's face on them, three straight rows of two logs of wood and a large circus-like tent with an iron gate that served as the doorway and had Wigglytuff's face and arms on the top of the tent.

"This is Wigglytuff's Guild. In order to form a exploration team, you need to register here first. Then you have to train until you're a full-fledged graduate.", Vulpix said as she and Michael looked at each other. Then they turned to look at the Guild's entrance. "Y-y-yikes!", Vulpix said as she shivered at the thought of what might be inside the Guild.

"Does this place seem a bit odd? I think it is!", Vulpix said as she and Michael turned to face each other again. Vulpix suddenly stopped worrying and had another determined look on her face. "No...! I've got Michael with me this time. I have to be brave.", Vulpix said as she jumped out of pure bravery.

As soon as she stepped on the grate, the first male voice from before spoke up. "Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!", he yelled, causing Vulpix to immediately lose her courage, but not enough of it to make her get off the grate again.

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?", the second male yelled back.

"The footprint is Vulpix's! The footprint is Vulpix's!", the first male answered.

"Waah!", Vulpix cried, but even though she shivered in fear, she and Michael couldn't quit now after coming so far together. "N-no. I can't lose it now...", Vulpix whispered to herself. A few seconds later, the second male spoke up.

"...You may ENTER! Someone's with you! So get that stranger to stand up THERE!", he yelled. Vulpix moved two feet to the grate's left so Michael could have his turn, but for some reason, he wasn't moving.

"I think he means you, Michael. He said to stand up there.", Vulpix said as she looked at him and then at the grate. Michael faced the grate and studied it. It had a circle made up of about 36 rocks with 8 sticks of wood that covered the hole equally on all sides and was tied up with about 32 strands of string.

(... There's a grate covering the hole... It's made so that no one can fall through... It's still really strange... It looks like it will tickle my feet or...)

Michael was quickly broken from his thoughts when the second male yelled "Hey, you! Stranger! Get on the GRATE!"

Michael did as he was instructed, and first male spoke again, "Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!"

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?", said the second male.

"The footprint is... The footprint is... Um...", the first male replied.

"What's the matter? Sentry! Sentry? What's wrong, sentry Diglett?", the second male yelled.

"Umm... Er...", Diglett replied.

(Underneath the grate...) A lone Diglett was staring up at the grate about several yards above his head with an embarrassed/puzzled look on his face. "Umm... The footprint is... Maybe Riolu's! Maybe Riolu's!", Diglett yelled into a long curving tunnel to his left.

"What? MAYBE?", the second male yelled in frustration. Diglett felt a nervous bead of sweat move down the right side of his head.

"B-but... It's not a footprint we normally see around here...", Diglett answered back.

"UGH! That's pretty crummy! Checking out the footprints of visiting Pokemon... That's your job, ISN'T it, Diglett?", the second male replied. Now, Diglett was even more nervous.

"Yes, but... I don't know what I don't know.", Diglett responded.

(Back outside the guild...) Vulpix and Michael heard the whole thing happening below them, and felt embarrassed drops of water move down the right sides of their heads, too.

"What? Are they arguing?", Vulpix asked.

"...Sorry to make you WAIT.", the second male said. Vulpix and Michael immediately turned to face the gate in front of them.

"Well, it's TRUE that we don't see any Riolu in these parts... But you don't SEEM to be bad... OK, good enough! ENTER!", the second male finished as the iron gate opened to let Vulpix and Michael inside the Guild.

"Yikes!", Vulpix said as she jumped in surprise and Michael's eyes widened in surprise. "I'm so nervous! So jittery! But I'm glad we're finally allowed inside. My heart's pounding, though...", Vulpix said as she and Michael looked at each other again. "Anyway, let's go inside.", Vulpix said. And with that, Michael led the way as Vulpix followed him inside the guild.

Once they were inside, there was a small hole with a wooden ladder leading down to the lower floors at their feet. "Th-there's a ladder that leads underground here!", Vulpix exclaimed. Michael went down first, so he could help Vulpix out in case she needed any. And once they reached the first underground floor, Vulpix's eyes were sparkling in amazement upon seeing all the other Pokemon that were there.

"Wow!", Vulpix cried as she and Michael walked to the south end of the room and looked at all the other Pokemon. There were a male Bidoof and a female Sunflora standing in front of a bulletin board and talking to each other on Michael's upper-right, a female Ledyba, a male Politoed and a female Togepi standing in a triangle on Vulpix's upper-left, a male Seedot and Pidgey talking with each other on Michael's immediate right, and a Wurmple talking with a Swellow on Vulpix's immediate left.

"So this is Wigglytuff's Guild! There sure are all kinds of Pokemon here. Do they each belong to exploration teams?", Vulpix asked. Suddenly, a male voice spoke up from behind them.

"Excuse me!", the voice said. Michael and Vulpix were quite surprised to hear a voice like that, but when they turned in the voice's direction, they saw that it came from a Chatot who just came out of another ladder from a hole in the floor right next to the one Michael and Vulpix just entered.

The Pokemon hopped towards Michael and Vulpix and started to speak again. "It was you two who just entered, right?", he asked.

"Y-yes!", Vulpix answered while jumping again.

"My name is Chatot! I'm the Pokemon who knows everything around these parts! I'm Guildmaster Wigglytuff's right-hand Pokemon! Now, go away! Leave the premises! We don't have time for salespeople or annoying surveys. Off you go, if you please!" That response really surprised Vulpix.

"N-no! That's not why we're here! We want to form an exploration team... So that's why we came here. We want to get properly trained as an exploration team.", Vulpix said. Now, Chatot was the surprised Pokemon.

"Wh-what? An exploration team?", Chatot stuttered. Then he turned around and mumbled to himself: "It's rare for us to see kids this young want to join us here at the guild. Especially given how difficult all of our training is! Surely the dozens of Pokemon who run away from our tough training proves how true that is!"

Upon hearing that, Michael and Vulpix had confused looks on their faces. "Excuse me. Is the exploration team training that harsh?", Vulpix asked. Chatot didn't even realize that Vulpix and Michael were able to hear that without him even thinking it, and he had a shocked tone in his voice.

"What? Well...no! No, no, no! It's not true in the slightest! Our training programs for exploration teams are as easy as they can be!", he squawked while fluttering in one spot in a surprised way. Then he stopped flying and began to sway the music note on the back of his head and his tail feathers back and forth in opposite directions. "Well, well, well! I wish you'd told me right away that you wanted to be an exploration team! Hee-hee!", he joked with a smile.

Once again, Vulpix and Michael felt those embarrassed drops of water come from their heads.

"What a change in attitude!", Vulpix said.

"OK! Let's get your team signed up right away. Please follow me!", Chatot requested. He faced the ladder he came from and started making his way toward it, but he'd only taken three steps when he noticed that Vulpix and Michael were still standing where they were. "Oh. Is anything wrong? Come on! Over here! Quickly, please!" Feeling better about joining finally made them follow him as the three of them made their way down the ladder and into the second underground floor.

Once they got there, Chatot spoke up. "This is the guild's second underground floor. It's mainly the place where apprentices work. Team registration is this way. Come along, please." Chatot led them to a wooden double-door that had Wigglytuff's signature look on it about four steps to his left, and Vulpix had yet another excited sparkle in her eyes as she ran to the closest window on the far side of the room.

"Wow! We're two floors under the ground, but we can see outside!", she cried as she jumped twice excitedly.

"Oh, please! Hush now!", Chatot scolded as he jumped twice in a stern way. "This guild is built into the side of a cliff. It's only natural that you'd see outside.", he said once he calmed down.

"Oh.", Vulpix said as she was very apologetic about her excitement.

"Now, here we are at Guildmaster Wigglytuff's chamber. On no account... I repeat, on no account should any of you be discourteous to our Guildmaster.", Chatot warned. Then he faced the doors and spoke: "Guildmaster! It's Chatot! I'm coming in!" And with that, the doors opened and he invited them inside.

The Guildmaster's chamber was most impressive; there were two huge treasure chests filled to the brim with all kinds of amazing items that Michael and Vulpix had never seen before sitting on opposite ends of the room, the very same flag they saw outside was there, but it hung on the wall in front of the Guildmaster and it was much bigger, the two torches from outside were also there, but they were unlit, there were small patches of flowers here and there and the Guildmaster was standing on a red rug that was outlined in white.

"Guildmaster! I present to you a Vulpix and a Riolu who wish to join our guild as apprentices.", Chatot said, but the Guildmaster didn't even answer or turn around. "Guildmaster...um...Guildmaster?", he spoke up, when suddenly, the Guildmaster turned around, replying with a "Hiya!" that startled Vulpix and Michael immediately.

"I'm Wigglytuff! I'm the guild's Guildmaster! You two want to form an exploration team? Then, let's go for it! First we must register your exploration team's name! So tell me, what's your team's name?", he asked politely. That question really took Vulpix and Michael by surprise, since they didn't know that exploration teams each had their own name.

"Oh? Our team's name? We didn't even think about a team name yet.", Vulpix answered. Then she turned to her leader Michael and asked, "So what do you think would be a great team name for us, Michael?"

(Hmm. Everyone here's a Pokemon, and Vulpix and I are great pals now so maybe...) "How about the Pokepals?", he answered.

"...Pokepals? Team Pokepals!", Vulpix said. She thought about the name for a bit and nodded in approval. "I like it! It's a good name! It's perfect for us!", she said with a cheerful smile.

"All settled, then! I'll register your team as the Pokepals. Registering! Registering! All registered... YOOM...TAH!", Wigglytuff finished with a large jump that scared Vulpix and Michael a little bit. "Congratulations! From now on, you're an official exploration team! I present you both with this in commemoration.", Wigglytuff said as soon as he took a few items from each of the treasure chests and placed them into a small gold box, which he placed diagonally at Michael and Vulpix's feet.

"A Pokemon Exploration Team Kit?", Vulpix asked.

"Yup. It's got everything every new exploration team needs. Go ahead, open it up.", Wigglytuff answered. Vulpix and Michael walked up to the kit and opened it up with one hand/paw. It had two Explorer Badges, a Wonder Map and a Treasure Bag inside.

"Yes! There's all kinds of great items in here!", Vulpix said with another sparkle in her eyes.

"Those are magical Explorer Badges! They're your official team identification!", Wigglytuff explained. As soon as Vulpix and Michael picked up their badges, a strange light appeared from the back and then vanished after a few seconds. When they turned them around, they each saw their own footprints and identification numbers on them. "And there's your Wonder Map, which is a wonder of convenience! Finally, there's your Treasure Bag. It let's you carry anything you find in dungeons. Your successes as an exploration team can lead to bigger and bigger bags. It's a very wonderful bag! Have a peek inside your Treasure Bag."

Vulpix and Michael peered into the Treasure Bag and each pulled out two items. Michael got a Defense Scarf and a Orange Bow, while Vulpix got a Special Band and a Red Bow.

"Those four items are special. I'm sure they'll help each of you on your adventures!", Wigglytuff said.

Those items really made Vulpix excited, as the sparkles were in her eyes again. "Th-thank you! We'll do our best!", she said as she jumped twice.

"Yup. But you're only apprenticing right now. So do your best...to train!", Wigglytuff finished with a smile.

"We will!", Vulpix promised as she jumped one last time, with sparkling eyes. Michael wrapped the green Defense Scarf tightly around his neck and wore his Orange Bow slightly above it. Then he helped Vulpix by securing the sky blue Special Band around her neck and placed her Red Bow on her forehead curls tightly, so it wouldn't slip off or get blown away by even the fiercest weather.

He placed the Wonder Map inside the Treasure Bag and wore it on his left shoulder so it moved diagonally to his right hip, that way he could reach any items and use them with no problem since he was right-handed. Vulpix and Michael faced each other and Vulpix said with a cheerful smile "Let's always do our best, Michael!" Michael nodded twice then he and Vulpix did the same team pose they did while on the beach.

A short while later, Chatot led the team out of the Guildmaster's chamber, into a hallway on his upper-left that literally led to a crossroads, and into a small room with a window, some vines that grew from the walls and ceiling and two beds made of straw.

"This is your room!", he said. Michael got the bed on the right, while Vulpix got the bed on the left. The straw was a little unsteady, but at least it would be better than sleeping on the cold ground. Michael set the bag of Poke in his corner and placed the Blast Seed inside the Treasure Bag.

"Yay! We get our own beds!", Vulpix said as she jumped twice cheerfully.

"You'll live here while you work for us. Things will start for you first thing in the morning! So get up early and live up to our rules! Don't stay up late. And go to sleep early tonight! That is all.", Chatot said. And with that, he left.

Later that night...

"... ... Say, are you still awake, Michael?", Vulpix asked. Michael didn't answer, so he nodded.

"My heart's been pounding all day... But I'm glad I finally forced myself to come here. I thought that Wigglytuff would be pretty scary, but he's actually pretty nice. We'll experience all kind of new things starting tomorrow, but I'm not very scared. Actually, I can't wait to see what new adventures are in store for us! I'm getting a little sleepy... Let's give it our best tomorrow. OK, Michael. Sleep tight." And with that, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

(Um... Now I'm suddenly apprenticing at the guild... I've gotta admit, it's pretty exciting to be in an exploration team. And it's wonderful to be friends with Vulpix... But first things first... Who am I? How did I turn into a Pokemon? How did I end up unconscious at the beach? I'm feeling sleepy too... Well, thinking about it won't help me right now. I'd better focus on the guild's work... If I do that, well, everything should become clear eventually... I'll surely get to the bottom of this in time.), Michael thought to himself as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning...

"HEY! YOU TWO! RISE AND SHINE!", said a voice that somehow sounded familiar. It was loud and sounded like a male's.

(Ugh! M-my head is pounding! Wh-what a ridiculously loud voice! It almost busted my eardrums!), Michael painfully thought to himself as he felt dizzy.

Why are you still ASLEEP? WAKE UP!", the furious male screamed.

(Ugh!), Michael thought again.

"M-my poor ears...", Vulpix groaned.

"C'mon! Snap OUT of it! I'm Loudred! And I'm a fellow apprentice! If you're late for our morning briefing, you'll be SORRY! So MOVE it! Guildmaster Wigglytuff has got a BIG temper. If he loses it...", Loudred said. He turned around and shivered at the thought of what might happen. "YIKES! That would be one scary scene! I've got goose bumps just thinking about it! YEESH!", he yelled.

Then he turned to face Vulpix and Michael again. "So ANYWAY... I'm not about to risk getting in trouble because you rookies got up LATE! SO GET IT IN GEAR!", he yelled as he stomped off to be on time for the meeting.

"Urk! My ears are still ringing... What did he say? Something about getting ready?", Vulpix groaned again. Then her and Michael's eyes opened wide as they remembered what happened yesterday.

"Er... Oh yeah! We both signed up as apprentices at Wigglytuff's Guild, that's right! But that means...", Vulpix said as she and Michael started thinking, then their eyes went wide in realization.

"Waaah! We totally overslept! Come on, Michael!", Vulpix said as she and Michael hurried to be in time for the briefing. They just got there when Loudred looked at them and yelled "You're LATE, rookies!"

"Hush! Your voice is ridiculously loud!", Chatot scolded him while hopping twice.

"Humph..." was Loudred's only reply as a embarrassed drop of water fell down the right side of his back.

Chatot looked at everyone twice before acknowledging that everyone was in full attendance.

"Everyone appears to be present. Very well. Let's conduct the morning address. Guildmaster, the guild is in full attendance!", he spoke while facing Wigglytuff's chamber. A few seconds later, the doors opened and Wigglytuff stepped outside.

"Thank you, Guildmaster! Please address the crew.", Chatot requested.

"Zzz... Zzz... mumble... Zzz...", Wigglytuff responded.

Suddenly, one of the apprentices whispered "Psst...! Guildmaster Wigglytuff never ceases to amaze me!", said the female Chimecho that was on the second to Michael's left.

"Yeah, you got that right!", the male Corphish behind her whispered back.

"Yup! It looks like he's wide awake.", the male Bidoof on Chimecho's right whispered.

"Eek! His eyes are wide open, but he's still asleep!", the female Sunflora standing between Bidoof and Michael almost burst out without thinking.

"Thank you, sir! We all value your...words of wisdom!", Chatot said as he nodded. Then he turned to speak to the apprentices as he stretched his wings a bit. "OK, everyone! Let's take our Guildmaster's words of wisdom to heart! Finally, let's say the morning cheers! All together now!", he finished.

"A ONE, A TWO...A ONE-TWO-THREE! ONE! DON'T SHIRK WORK! TWO! RUN AWAY AND PAY! THREE! SMILES GO FOR MILES!", everyone cheered. Everyone except Michael and Vulpix, since they just joined yesterday, it was only natural for newbies to learn all the rules by the next day, or even sooner, but no one else minded.

"OK, everyone! Get to work!", Chatot ordered.

"HOORAY!", everyone but Michael and Vulpix cheered, as those with arms and legs lifted their right arm into the air, and those without them simply had their heads held high. After that, they went to work, and Wigglytuff went back into his chamber.

"What... What should we do?", Vulpix asked in worry.

"I'm not really sure. Maybe one of the other apprentices can help us if we ask.", Michael answered.

He and Vulpix started to wander through the room, when Chatot stopped them.

"Hey, you shouldn't just be wandering around there. You two follow me.", he said. Vulpix and Michael were hesitant as they looked at each other, but then they followed him up the ladder that led to the first underground floor. Once they were there, Chatot led them to a Bulletin Board on his right side that had about 6 different posters on it.

"You're just beginners. We'll have you start off with this assignment.", he said as he turned to face the wooden board in front of them.

"This is called the Job Bulletin Board. Pokemon from different places send job requests here. You're both aware that bad Pokemon are popping up in huge numbers, right?", Chatot asked.

"Yup. Because the flow of time is getting messed up, it's causing havoc everywhere, right? That's why so many bad Pokemon are appearing!", Vulpix answered. Her response left Michael with a confused look on his face.

(The flow of time is getting messed up? Time? As in hours and minutes? Are they saying that something's gone wrong with time here? And, because of that, more and more bad Pokemon are appearing? What's going on here?), he thought.

"Precisely. Time getting out of whack has caused an outbreak of bad Pokemon. Perhaps because of all that... we've noticed an increasing number of jobs from other Pokemon. In addition...and it's unknown if this is caused by time's influence... There's also a massive outbreak of ...mystery dungeons.", Chatot finished.

(Mystery Dungeons?), Michael thought.

Vulpix turned to face Michael. "So, Michael! You know how we got back my Relic Fragment yesterday? The place we got it was a Mystery Dungeon. A Mystery Dungeon always changes every time anyone goes into it. So there's a different layout and different item/Pokemon locations every time you enter!", Vulpix said cautiously.

"If you or your partners faint in the middle of one, regardless of how it happens, you always lose about half of your money... You can also lose about half of your items or more. Finally, you get kicked right out. They're very strange places.", Vulpix warned.

"But every time you go inside one, there are always new things to discover! They're really fantastic places to go exploring!", Vulpix finished with sparkles in her eyes. Her advice to her leader made Chatot applaud for a bit.

"Well! You're quite informed, aren't you? That makes things much easier for me to explain! Jobs all take place in mystery dungeons. So... let me look for a job you two should be able to perform!", Chatot said as he turned around and looked over the board. "Ah, yes. Maybe this will do.", he said as he handed Vulpix a letter to read.

"Oh, really? Let's see what it says!", Vulpix said as she started reading. It read: "Hello! My name's Spoink! An outlaw has run off with my most prized possession, my precious pearl! That pearl is life itself...to me! I just can't settle down if that pearl isn't in its proper place atop my head! But I've heard my pearl's been sighted! It's said to be in a rocky bluff. But this bluff is reported to be extremely unsafe. I could never go somewhere so frightening! Oh, friendly readers! Would you be so kind as to go to the bluff and get my pearl? I beg your help, exploration team members!" From Spoink.

"Wait a second... We're going to fetch an item someone dropped?", Vulpix said as she jumped twice in anger. "I'd rather go on a bigger adventure than that. I'd rather go looking for treasure or explore unknown places. Things like that!", she said as sparkles were in her eyes.

That response made Chatot mad, as he fluttered in one place for a bit and yelled "Hush!"

"Yikes!", Vulpix cried as she jumped in surprise.

"It's important that you rookies pay your dues! Now pay attention! I'll repeat the warnings to make sure they stick! You'll be forced out of the dungeon and sent back here if either of you faints, you'll lose half of your money and you could lose half of your items or more! You'd best be careful!", Chatot shouted.

"If you've understood all of that, I suggest you get on with the job!", he said calmly after flapping his wings a bit.

"Hmm...", Vulpix said as an embarrassed drop of water went down the back of her head.

Outside the Drenched Bluff...

"This must be the bluff's entrance. Spoink's letter said his pearl is deep down in the seventh floor basement. It's supposedly very dangerous on the way there, so let's be very careful. Let's do our very best, Michael!", Vulpix said. They both nodded and Michael led the way into the first floor of the Drenched Bluff with Vulpix quickly following behind him.

The Drenched Bluff was very different from the Beach Cave, but there some similarities too; the terrain was all made of rock with a few routes blocked by streams or even pools of water, the walls were colored a brown-gray like the pebbles on the floor, which was gray-white with a few patches of blue in it, and the Pokemon and items were spotted in random location of the floor.

Right in front of them were an Anorith and a Lileep, who were staring at the items Michael and Vulpix were wearing.

"Just where did you two get those rare, neat items you have there?", Lileep asked.

"We got these items from Wigglytuff himself after we became an exploration team at Wigglytuff's Guild.", Michael answered. Both Anorith and Lileep's eyes went wide in fear at the sound of 'exploration team', because each team was loved, hated or feared the world over in their own way, and if even one of the members of the famed Wigglytuff's Guild was in trouble or messed with, one or more of the others would come to help and give their opponents a beating they'd never forget.

"So you two are an exploration team, huh?", Anorith said despite having a bit of a scared tone in his voice.

"Yes we are. In fact, we just became one yesterday.", Vulpix said. Even though Vulpix loved being on an exploration team, it was a little too soon to be announcing it to the other Pokemon around her, especially when most of them were low-lifes who lived inside a mystery dungeon.

"You just joined yesterday? Then those items of yours must be really special since Wigglytuff gave them to you in person. They'd fetch the eye of someone who'd pay handsomely for them, no doubt about that!", Lileep said, now that he was feeling better about facing Michael and his partner, knowing they were rookies.

Now Vulpix and Michael were mad again. Things were bad enough with the different kinds of Pokemon trying to steal all of the Poke they found inside the Beach Cave, but now they were after just about anything they had? It seemed like neither of them would get a break from the Pokemon that were constantly trying to steal whatever they would receive or find.

"Hey Anorith, how much did items like those sell for again?", Lileep asked.

"If I remember correctly, those Bows sold for about 9,500 Poke each, while that Band and Scarf sold for around 2,500-3,500 Poke, depending on what they take effect on.", Anorith said.

"We don't care how much our items sell for! We'd never give them to the likes of you!", Michael yelled defiantly.

"Well then, if it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you'll get!", Anorith said. Michael was about two feet away from Anorith, so he made the first move by using Quick Attack on him.

"Humph! You're pretty tough, but you'll need stronger moves than that to beat us.", Anorith said as he moved a foot toward Michael.

"Vulpix, would you care to do the honors?", Michael asked politely as he just stood there.

"I'd love to. Faint Attack!", she cried as the Dark-type move formed around her and knocked out Anorith.

"You knocked out my partner! How dare you?", Lileep yelled.

"Every Pokemon we encounter in a mystery dungeon keeps on trying to steal from us. It's only fair that we defend each other.", Vulpix responded.

"Aww. That's so sweet, but we'll still beat you!", Lileep said sarcastically.

"Beat this! Quick Attack!", Michael yelled as he rushed to attack the Pokemon who dared to mess with him and his partner. It wasn't strong enough to make Lileep faint, but Vulpix finished the job by using Ember.

"Ugh. Your leader's certainly strong enough to beat Rock-types like Anorith and me, you're also strong enough to beat the Bug/Grass-types we have, but you won't have a chance against West Sea Shellos' Water-type attacks and your leader will be helpless against Psychic-type moves from Chingling. They'll have either of you faint before you even find the stairs.", Lileep chuckled before he fainted.

"We'll worry about that when we see them. Come on, Vulpix. Let's look around and see what we can find.", Michael said.

"OK, then. Lead the way, Michael.", Vulpix responded. The room they were currently in was shaped like a large, vertical rectangle with two Wonder Tiles and a large bag filled with 72 Poke. There was also a straight path in the south end of the room that turned to the left, then turned into another straight path on the right, where an Anorith was approaching.

"Give me those items you have, and I'll tell you where you can find the stairs.", Anorith said with a smug grin.

"We don't think so, and we're not stupid enough to fall for bribes. Bite!", Michael yelled as he bit Anorith between his eyes.

"We more than capable of finding our way throughout this entire mystery dungeon by ourselves. Ember!", Vulpix yelled as her move was super effective against him. Michael noticed Anorith dropping something before he fainted, and he picked it up to find out what it was.

"Hey, Vulpix, do you know what these are and what they do?", Michael asked, showing her the five pebbles in his hand.

"These are called Geo Pebbles. They're mainly used to deal 10 damage to any enemy Pokemon in front of you, but sometimes they can be dodged, and then picked up and used against you. Up to 99 of them can be carried as a single item in any Treasure Bag, but that's about it.", Vulpix explained.

"Interesting. Let's keep working on reaching the seventh floor basement and finding Spoink's pearl.", Michael said as he put the pebbles into the Treasure Bag and led the way down the path that led them into a large, square room with a single pink heart-shaped Berry laying to his right, near another straight path that was on the far right end of the room. Michael picked up the Berry and showed it to Vulpix so she could explain what it was.

"This is a Pecha Berry. It's used to cure any Pokemon affected with Poisoned/Badly Poisoned status, and it fills the user's belly by 5%.", Vulpix said.

"So, what's the difference between being Poisoned and being Badly Poisoned?", Michael asked.

"Well for one, Poisoned status can only be inflicted by several means- like being attacked by a Poison-type move like Smog, Poison Sting and Poison Powder/Gas, getting struck by a Pokemon with the Poison Point or Synchronize ability, stepping onto a Toxic Spikes/Poison trap and other things like that. Poisoned status affects your body's ability to heal naturally, you'll take 2 damage every 20 turns and the only ways to cure it are by eating a Pecha Berry, having the Self-Curer or Trap Buster IQ skill, using a Psychic-type move like Healing Wish or moving to a new floor in a mystery dungeon.", Vulpix explained.

"And Badly Poisoned?", Michael asked.

"Badly Poisoned status can only be inflicted by getting attacked by either Toxic or Poison Fang. Because Badly Poisoned status is more potent than Poisoned, it affects your body the same way, but it deals three times the damage in four times the normal rate, but it can be cured in the same ways as well.", Vulpix finished.

"Wow. We'd better save these, just in case.", Michael said as he put the Berry into the Treasure Bag. The straight path turned to the right, became straight for a bit, then turned left, leading into another square room with a bottle filled to the brim with a strange liquid in the lower-left corner.

"What's this thing, Vulpix?", Michael asked as Vulpix looked at the bottle.

"This is Max Elixir. It's used to fully restore all of a Pokemon's Power Points to their maximum whenever they've been drained and it restores 5% of the user's belly.", Vulpix answered. Neither of them needed to use it yet, so it was placed inside the Treasure Bag. The room they were in had a path in the north end that was straight, turned right, was straight again, then turned left into another straight path.

Before heading into the final room that had the stairs near the upper-right corner of it, Michael knocked out a Lileep by using Bite while it was right next to him in the water, and the Experience Points made Vulpix reach Level 9.

"Leveled up! I can tough it out.", she cried. Just then, a West Sea Shellos approached her from behind, and Vulpix beat him in one shot by using Ember. Michael saw two Anoriths approach him near the stairs, and he beat them both by using Bite, causing him to reach Level 9 as well. When he and Vulpix reached the second basement, the room was shaped like another vertical rectangle that had a Lileep standing in front of Michael and near Vulpix's upper-left, another Lileep near Michael's lower-left, a Shellos that used Mud-Sport, a Wonder Tile, a bag filled with 42 Poke and a Apple on the floor.

Michael used Bite on the Lileep in front of him, and the damage she took made her faint in one hit, while the other Lileep moved closer and Shellos used Mud Sport again to halve the damage from Vulpix's Special attacks. When Lileep was next to Michael, he tried attacking with Quick Attack, but he missed, then Vulpix used Ember, but that attack also missed. Lileep struck Michael by using Constrict, but the Defense Scarf lowered the damage to a point where his opponent's move almost felt like nothing made contact.

Michael countered by using Bite again, and Lileep fainted as Shellos walked closer to Michael and Vulpix. When Shellos was two feet away, Michael used Quick Attack and had no problem picking up the bag of Poke and showing the Apple to Vulpix. "The Apples you find on this world come in many different sizes and fill different percentages of your belly. This one fills your belly by half and they're quite common in mystery dungeons like this one."

They walked through the path near the upper-left corner of the room, turned right and led straight into another rectangular room that was slightly smaller than the last one and had nothing in particular except for another Wonder Tile and a straight path in the upper-right corner that went straight, turned right, went down and turned left leading to an empty, rectangle room with another path in the lower-right corner that led straight down into a small room with a Sleep Seed and stairs. Since there weren't any Pokemon following them except for a Lileep, which Michael beat by using Bite, they went right into the third basement, which had a huge room that had a Big Apple and 73 Poke on the floor. "These Big Apples are twice the size of a regular Apple and they completely fill a Pokemon's belly whenever it's empty.", Vulpix explained.

There were two separate paths in the huge room, one on the south end, and the other in the upper-left corner. They took the south path, only to discover that it was just a straight downward road that led to a dead end, so they backtracked to the corner path, but before Michael could even enter it, a Chingling attacked him by using Wrap and Michael couldn't even fight back. "Vulpix, (cough) help me!", he struggled to say as he looked at Vulpix with pain in his eyes.

"Michael, hold on! Ember!", Vulpix yelled angrily as she let the flames burst all over the Chingling that dared to harm her leader. Chingling fainted and Michael pulled himself free from his opponent's grip.

"Thanks, Vulpix. You saved me."

"Anytime, Michael. You'd do the same thing for me, and exploration teams help each other through any kind of trouble." Michael smiled at that, but he quickly diverted his attention to a shadow coming from the corner. He quickly noticed it was another Chingling and he used Quick Attack on it.

Fortunately, that move was able to be used in any direction and cut corners, like Vulpix's moves, when Chingling wasted his turn by closing in on Michael, he fainted after Michael used Bite, which was super effective, since Dark-type moves were strong against Psychic-types.

The path continued to the left, went straight and turned right, leading into another room shaped like the first one, but much smaller in size. Taking the south path led them straight, turned right, went straight then turned left, leading to nothing but an empty room. So they backtracked to take the upper-left corner path again, but when they were in the middle of the room, Michael faced a Chingling on his left, and Vulpix faced another on her right.

Michael used Quick Attack on his opponent, but he didn't faint, while Vulpix used Faint Attack on her opponent, causing him to faint. Upon see that happen, Chingling got mad and used Wrap on her. Seeing his partner go through the same pain he did made Michael angry.

"You leave her alone, right now! Bite!", Michael cried. The move had its super effect on Chingling, and Vulpix was free in no time.

"Now we're even, Michael.", Vulpix said gratefully.

"Well it's like you said. 'Exploration teams help each other through any kind of trouble.' And it's a leader's job to look after his/her partners.", Michael said with a smile. With that, Vulpix walked right up to Michael and kissed him again, this time, out of thanks. Then Michael led her through the tunnel that went straight, turned left, became straight, turned right and led to a square room with yet another Wonder Tile and a path in the south end of the room that went straight.

Before they could exit it, a Anorith blocked their way and Michael beat him by using Quick Attack. The next room was empty, except for another Anorith, which Michael knocked out by using Bite. Then the path in the lower-left corner of the room went straight, turned left, went straight and turned right, showing a square room with a bag filled with 37 Poke, a Stun Seed and a White Gummi. Michael showed the Seed and Gummi to Vulpix and listened to her explanations of the items.

The Stun Seed was white, with a small, yellow lightning bolt on both sides of it. "This is called a Stun Seed. Whoever eats it will be completely stunned and unable to use any kind of move they have until either they get attacked or after the effect wears off on its own after a long while. This other item is called a Gummi. There's 18 different kinds, each one meant for a specific type it's compatible with. They also have strange effects, like raising a stat if one's eaten in a mystery dungeon, raising your IQ, giving you helpful skills and filling up your belly by different percentages, depending on the type of Gummi and Pokemon."

"Intriguing. Let's try these whenever we find more.", Michael said as he led Vulpix through the upper-right path of the room that went straight, turned right, went straight again and turned left, leading them into the final room of the floor that had a Wonder Tile about two feet away by the stairs entrance a little bit to the upper-right. The fourth basement had another south path and a lower-left corner path with a female Lileep in front of Michael, which he beat by using Bite. The path on the south end of the room was straight, and led to an empty room that was the exact same size and shape of the first one. They backtracked to the left path in the first room, which went straight, turned left, went down, turned right and led straight into another room with separate paths in the south and west sides of the room.

They took the south path again, which went south, turned left, went straight, turned right and went straight into another similar room with south and west pathways. The west one went straight, turned right, and led to separate paths. The one on the right led them back to the room they entered after beating Lileep, while the one on the left went down, right, down, left, up and right into another room with paths on the north, west and south ends of it.

As they made their way through the north path, which went up, right and up again, they were met by a Shellos, which Michael beat by using Quick Attack, and another Lileep, which he beat by using Bite. Then Michael and Vulpix were back in the room they were in before taking the path that split up at the end, and backtracked their way through the south way again. As they were about to enter the room it led to, Michael heard a familiar move being used. "Mud Sport!", another female Shellos cried.

Michael simply shook his head in disbelief as he faced the Shellos from two feet away and used Quick Attack. When they were in the last, straight path of the room, another Lileep that was after their items blocked their way, and Michael knocked her out by using Bite. The other Lileep behind her saw what happened from three feet away and became mad.

"Knocking out one of our own kind is one of the worst mistakes you can make here in a mystery dungeon.", Lileep said as the Mud Slap effect wore off.

"Oh, and what are the others? Spending too much time on a single floor? Fainting from hunger? Getting a Status Condition?", Michael joked. Lileep wasn't amused as she moved a foot closer to Michael, and was in range to be defeated by his Quick Attack. Upon entering the final room that had the stairs in the north side of the room, Michael picked up a seed that showed a confused-looking pair of eyes with a blue-white question mark above them on both ends, another Max Elixir, another Stun Seed and a seed with a red cross on both sides.

Again, Michael showed the new items to Vulpix and paid attention to what she said. "This first item's a X-Eye Seed. Whoever eats it or gets hit by it will be Cross-Eyed and if they're a team leader, they'll see Pokemon and anything else on a single floor of a mystery dungeon quite differently. For instance, every Pokemon will look like a Larvitar, while items, stairs, Wonder Tiles and traps all look like a pair of white flowers with red centers. But it's not all bad, the effect is temporary and if the affected Pokemon has the Steadfast ability, they can attack twice in one turn or get away quickly due to moving at twice their normal speed."

So, what does this one do?", he asked, showing her the seed with the cross.

"This is a Heal Seed. It's used to cure any kind of Status Condition, no matter how many a single Pokemon has."

"Ok then, let's keep moving, Vulpix.", Michael said as he put the items inside the Treasure Bag and led the way to the fifth floor. When they got there, a male Anorith was about three feet away from them. As Michael and Vulpix moved a foot towards the only path on the west side of the small, square room they were in, Anorith moved close enough to be hurt by Michael's Quick Attack and ended up dodging it in one second. Since that was his last Power Point for that move, Michael relied on using Bite instead, and he and Vulpix made their way through the path when Anorith fainted. The path went west, turned north, went west, went south at a dead end, along the way they encountered a Lileep that was in their way and as Michael used Bite, he dropped a Pecha Berry on the ground as soon as he fainted, which Michael put away with the rest of the items they had.

The south part of the path came to another dead end, so Michael and Vulpix went east then south again into a room with another Berry and a bag filled with 47 Poke. Since there wasn't any more space for items inside the Treasure Bag, which could only carry 16 different items at once, Michael shared half an Apple with Vulpix, since they felt hungry despite having bellies that were only 40% filled and drank a Max Elixir to restore his Power Points to allow some space for the Berry.

Michael picked it up and looked at it; it was the exact size and shape of an Oran Berry, but it was light blue instead of regular blue. "Um, Vulpix, this is an Oran Berry, right?", Michael asked as he showed the strange Berry to her.

"Unfortunately, it's not, Michael. This is called an Oren Berry. It's very common to mistake these for Oran Berries, but there's at least three different ways to find out about a Lookalike item."

"What are Lookalike items, Vulpix?"

"A Lookalike item is a item that is quite different from a regular item. The only ways to tell the differences are in the look, name and effects of the item it represents. This Oren Berry here looks harmless, but that's because it's only grown in places with lots of dry soil. If either a good or bad Pokemon eats it, they'll receive 10 damage and this item's pronounced with an 'e', not an 'a'."

"I see. I'm sure we can find a use for it somewhere, but not now. Let's see where these paths take us now.", Michael said as he put the Lookalike item away and took the east path, which led to a room that was empty, except for a single Wonder Tile. The only east path in THAT room turned south at the corner, then turned east, leading into another empty room. The south path in that room led east, then went south showing a room with a single Oran Berry on the floor.

After putting the Berry in the Treasure Bag, Michael and Vulpix took the other path on the west side of the room that turned right at the only corner, where a Shellos was approaching them from. Michael turned to face him and used Quick Attack. A Lileep was walking nearby in the water and Michael used Bite when he walked right next to him.

Taking the rest of the path west and turning south at the corner led them to another Anorith that blocked their path, so Michael used Bite again and went into the final room of the floor that had five Geo Pebbles, a stairway and a north path that took them to the room where that Lileep dropped that Pecha Berry earlier. Taking the stairs led to the sixth basement, where a Anorith approached them as they were reaching the south end of the room. Michael beat her by using Quick Attack and as the path went down he beat a Shellos by using Bite, and the path turned left, went straight, then turned right at another corner, leading into another room with paths on the north, east and south sides of it.

They took the south path, which turned right, went straight and turned left entering a room with a Pink Gummi and a Wonder Tile in the middle of the floor near another Anorith, which Michael beat by using Quick Attack. Then they took the right path of the room, which went straight for a while before turning right, going straight for a bit, turning left and then leading the way to another room with a Wonder Tile and an Oran Berry. Michael shared it with Vulpix, since they were feeling exhausted from so much walking and the north path of the room went straight, turned left, went straight for a while, then turned right.

The next room it led to had a bag filled with 47 Poke near the left path that led back to the room they entered before finding that Pink Gummi. Michael heard a splashing sound in the water and saw a Shellos walking on it. He carefully lured her back onto land and noticed a bag of Poke she dropped as he used Bite.

After counting the 42 Poke it had, he added it to the rest he had with him and remembered the east path on the first room he and Vulpix came in. Following a hunch that it led to the stairs, he fought his way through the final path by beating any remaining Pokemon by using Bite and Quick Attack. By the time he beat the eighth one, he and Vulpix were at Level 10, the third warning wind blew and they were dizzy from hunger by the time they reached the final set of stairs.

They followed them into the last basement, which was quite impressive; the floor was made up of many rocks with green moss growing on them, water was pouring into a small fountain that went southeast and southwest across four or six small steps and there was something pink and shiny about five feet away from in front of Michael and Vulpix.

"Oh, over there! This has to be Spoink's pearl! Quick let's take it back to him!", Vulpix said. Michael nodded as he walked up to the pearl and carefully placed it inside the Treasure Bag once he used some items to make space for it.

Back in the Guild's first underground floor a few minutes later...

Spoink was so glad to have received his treasure, that he literally was springing with joy. "Th-thank you! This pearl has to be propped up on my head, you see. I missed it so much! I just couldn't settle down without it up there! So I was just springing and hopping everywhere! That's why I'm covered in dings and bumps. But thanks to you two, that long nightmare is over! You have my sincere thanks!", he said.

As he hopped over to face Michael, he gave him two bottles of Protein, Calcium, Iron and 2,000 Poke. The reward left them wide-eyed in astonishment. "Oh, wow! 2,000 Poke? We can have all this money?", Vulpix asked Spoink.

"Of course! Of course! That's nothing compared to my pearl's value! Farewell!", Spoink said, and with that, he left. Vulpix was quite happy that their first day on the job went well, and hopped once in excitement.

"We're rich, Michael! All of a sudden, we're rich!", she cried.

"Well done, team! Very few teams rarely get a C-rank job, or finish one on their first day/try.", Chatot said as he walked in front of Michael. "Now hand that money over, if you please!" That demand certainly left surprised looks on Michael and Vulpix's faces.

"Excuse me?", Vulpix cried as she watched Chatot take all of the reward money from Michael. Then he turned around and started counting it.

"Most of the money from jobs goes to the Guildmaster, you see! And your team's share of the money comes out to this much...!", Chatot finished as he gave one-tenth of the money to them, while keeping the rest, leaving Michael and Vulpix with another shocked look on their faces.

"Huh? We keep only 200 Poke?", Vulpix said as she jumped back in surprise. "That's not fair!", she whined.

Chatot turned to face Vulpix and chided, "Well that's the guild's rule. You both simply have to accept it!"

"Humph..." was all she could reply with as another embarrassed drop of water ran down her head.

A few minutes later, inside the second underground floor...

Vulpix and Michael were talking with all the other Pokemon about how their first job went, when they heard the sound of a bell ringing. "Everyone! Thanks for waiting!", a familiar female voice said. Everyone stopped talking and looked towards the Mess Hall, where Chimecho came out to greet everyone. "I finished making dinner! Come on! Dinner's on!", she finished.

"Yeah!", everyone cheered, as they made their way to the Mess Hall, where delicious food was served. The dinner was served to everyone once they washed up and took their own seats at the king-sized table. Everyone each had their own serving of either Apples, Oran Berries, Bananas and other kinds of fresh fruit there was.

After the meal...

"Ahh... I'm done eating! Excellent meal!", said one apprentice.

"I'm stuffed, and now I'm getting sleepy...", said Bidoof.

"Yep, I'm off to bed! Good night, gang!", another apprentice said.

"Good night!", everyone else finished.

Inside Michael and Vulpix's room, several hours later...

"Say, Michael... Today was pretty hectic with everything we went through, wasn't it? But I'm glad our first job turned out so well. I was really mad about how Chatot took most of the money... That's just the cost of training, I guess. We can't do anything about it. But what really made me happy, though, was getting thanked by Spoink!", Vulpix said before yawning. "Yawn... I'm getting sleepy. I'm going to sleep. Let's try our best again tomorrow. Sleep tight, Michael...", Vulpix finished as she drifted off to sleep, dreaming about what exciting new adventure might be in store for her and Michael.

Thanks for waiting, everybody! I'm sorry my new chapter took so long, but writing a chapter while playing the game it's based on isn't easy, trust me. I'll try to get these updates up faster, but that might take awhile. Until then, please read and review.


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